Skip to main content
Book cover

Liminality and Critical Event Studies pp 99–118Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Searching for Sites of Liminality in Giga-Events

  • 238 Accesses

Abstract

Giga-events disrupt urban communities and businesses rendering vulnerable social groups marginalised, unable to leverage economic benefits. We focus on event visitor economies during the ‘live staging’ between the Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremony. Giga-events are managed to redirect visitor economic consumption from small business communities towards official sites of corporate consumption. Using this critique of large-scale events, the burgeoning accounts of liminality are used to disrupt and provide a potential antidote to the neoliberal practices of giga-events. Proposing where liminality may be fostered demonstrates the conceptual and practical ways host communities, policymakers, event managers can develop emancipatory spaces ‘betwixt and in-between’. Divergent forms of liminal space have been overlaid across ‘Live Sites’ to illustrate how vulnerable social groups can leverage visitor economy opportunities.

Keywords

  • Giga-events
  • Liminality
  • Liminoidal
  • Visitor economy
  • Micro and small businesses
  • Festival–event–leverage complex

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-40256-3_6
  • Chapter length: 20 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-40256-3
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 6.1

(Adapted from Duignan et al., 2018)

References

  • Armstrong, G., Giulianotti, R., & Hobbs, D. (2017). Policing the London 2012 Olympics. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ARUP. (2017). Cities Alive: Rethinking legacy for host cities. Retrieved from https://www.arup.com/-/media/arup/files/publications/c/170407hclegacy-a5-v6.pdf.

  • Balduck, A.-L., Maes, M., & Buelens, M. (2011). The social impact of the Tour de France: Comparisons of residents’ pre- and post-event perceptions. European Sport Management Quarterly, 11(2), 91–113.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Cade, N., Everett, S., & Duignan, M. B. (2019). Leveraging digital and physical spaces to access high-risk favela communities: Amplifying lost narratives in Rio’s mega-event city. Tourism Geographies (accepted for publication January 2019).

    Google Scholar 

  • Carino, L., & Dantas, R. (2017). The most connected Olympic Games of history. In L. J. Mataruna-Dos-Santos & B. G. Pena (Eds.), Mega events footprints: Past, present and future (pp. 1448–1459). Rio de Janeiro: Engenho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho, B., Cavalcanti, M., & Venuturupalli, V. R. (2016). Occupy all streets: Olympic urbanism and contested futures in Rio de Janeiro. New York: Terreform.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caudwell, J., & Rinehart, R. E. (2014). Liminoidal spaces and the moving body: Emotional turns. Emotion, Space and Society, 12(1), 1–3.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • CDURP. (2016). Urban operation: Porto Maravilha. Retrieved from http://www.portomaravilha.com.br/conteudo/imprensa/livreto_geral_INGLES_2016.pdf.

  • Chalip, L. (2004). Beyond impact: A general model for sport event leverage. In B. W. Ritchie & D. Adair (Eds.), Sport tourism: Interrelationships, impacts and issues (pp. 236–252). Clevedon: Channel View Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chalip, L. (2006). Towards social leverage of sport events. Journal of Sport and Tourism, 11(2), 109–127.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Chalip, L. (2014). From legacy to leverage. In J. Grix (Ed.), Leveraging legacies from sports mega-events: Concepts and cases (pp. 2–12). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chalip, L. (2018). Trading legacy for leverage. In I. Brittain, J. Bocarro, T. Byers, & K. Swart (Eds.), Legacies and mega events: Fact or fairy tales? (pp. 25–42). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J., Kearns, A., & Cleland, C. (2016). Spatial scale, time and process in mega-events: The complexity of host community perspectives on neighbourhood change. Cities, 53, 87–97.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Commission for a Sustainable London 2012. (2012). London 2012—From vision to reality: Post-Games report. Retrieved from http://cslondon.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/11/CSL_Post%20Games%20Report_Final.pdf.

  • Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: An introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duignan, M. B., Everett, S., Walsh, L., & Cade, N. (2018). Leveraging physical and digital liminoidal spaces: The case of the #EATCambridge Festival. Tourism Geographies, 20(5), 858–879.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duignan, M. B., & McGillivray, D. (2016). How Rio 2016 satisfied the sponsors while leaving room for the people. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/how-rio-2016-satisfied-its-sponsors-while-leaving-room-for-the-people-64071.

  • Duignan, M. B., & McGillivray, D. (2019). Walking methodologies, digital platforms and the interrogation of Olympic spaces: The ‘#RioZones-Approach’. Tourism Geographies (accepted for publication January 2019).

    Google Scholar 

  • Duignan, M. B., Pappalepore, I., & Everett, S. (2019). The ‘summer of discontent’: Exclusion and communal resistance at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Tourism Management, 70, 355–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • EventRights. (2019). Project overview. Retrieved from http://eventrights.net/.

  • Federation of Small Businesses. (2013). Passing the baton: How small business have been affected by the London 2012 Games. Retrieved from http://www.fsb.org.uk/policy/rpu/london/assets/passingthebaton_fsb_final.pdf.

  • Financial Times. (2012). Businesses miss out on Olympics party [video online]. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/video/e078c9e7-e4a6-3183-8880-311d51728d0c.

  • Flyvbjerg, B., Bruzelius, N., & Rothengatter, W. (2003). Megaprojects and risk: An anatomy of ambition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Getz, D. (2005). Event management and event tourism (2nd ed.). New York: Cognizant Communication Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Girginov, V. (2017). Leveraging the Olympic Games: Universal and local imaginaries and mobilities. In N. B. Salazar, C. Timmerman, J. Wets, L. G. Gato, & S. Van den Broucke (Eds.), Mega-event mobilities: A critical analysis (pp. 145–164). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giulianotti, R., Armstrong, G., Hales, G., & Hobbs, D. (2015). Global sport mega-events and the politics of mobility: The case of the London 2012 Olympics. The British Journal of Sociology, 66(4), 118–140.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gold, J. R., & Gold, M. M. (2018). Urban segments and event spaces: World’s fairs and Olympic sites. In C. Hein (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of planning history (pp. 348–363). London: Routledge.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Healey, P. (2002). On creating the ‘city’ as a collective resource. Urban Studies, 39(10), 1777–1792.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Hede, A.-M. (2007). Managing special events in the new era of the triple bottom line. Event Management, 11(1–2), 13–22.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • House of Lords. (2013). Keeping the flame alive: The Olympic and Paralympic legacy. Retrieved from http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldselect/ldolympic/78/78.pdf.

  • IOC. (2016). IOC marketing: Media guide—Olympic Games Rio 2016. Retrieved from https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Games/Summer-Games/Games-Rio-2016-Olympic-Games/Media-Guide-for-Rio-2016/IOC-Marketing-Media-Guide-Rio-2016.pdf.

  • IOC. (2018). Olympic Agenda 2020—Olympic Games: The new norm. Retrieved from https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/News/2018/02/2018-02-06-Olympic-Games-the-New-Norm-Report.pdf.

  • Kirby, S. I., Duignan, M. B., & McGillivray, D. (2018). Mega-sport events, micro and small business leveraging: Introducing the “MSE-MSB Leverage Model”. Event Management, 22(6), 917–931.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lauermann, J. (2014). Competition through interurban policy making: Bidding to host megaevents as entrepreneurial networking. Environment and Planning A, 46(11), 2638–2653.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (2012). The final hurdle: Securing a business legacy. London: LCCI.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGillivray, D., & Frew, M. (2015). From fan parks to live sites: Mega events and the territorialisation of urban space. Urban Studies, 52(14), 2649–2663.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Mills, B. M., & Rosentraub, M. S. (2013). Hosting mega-events: A guide to the evaluation of development effects in integrated metropolitan regions. Tourism Management, 34, 238–246.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Müller, M. (2015). What makes an event a mega-event? Definitions and sizes. Leisure Studies, 34(6), 627–642.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, D. (2006). Event business leveraging: The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(1), 240–261.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, D., & Chalip, L. (2007). Executive training exercise in sport event leverage. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 1(4), 296–304.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Osborn, G., & Smith, A. (2016). Olympic brandscapes: London 2012 and the seeping commercialisation of public space. In G. Poynter, V. Viehoff, & Y. Li (Eds.), The London Olympics and urban development (pp. 139–153). Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pappalepore, I., & Duignan, M. B. (2016). The London 2012 cultural programme: A consideration of Olympic impacts and legacies for small creative organisations in East London. Tourism Management, 54, 344–355.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Peachey, J. W., Borland, J., Lobpries, J., & Cohen, A. (2015). Managing impact: Leveraging sacred spaces and community celebration to maximize social capital at a sport-for-development event. Sport Management Review, 18(1), 86–98.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Pink, S. (2013). Doing visual ethnography (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raco, M., & Tunney, E. (2010). Visibilities and invisibilities in urban development: Small business communities and the London Olympics 2012. Urban Studies, 47(10), 2069–2091.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Rede Nacional do Esporte. (2016). Media guide: Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved from http://rededoesporte.gov.br/en/news/federal-government-launches-journalist-guide-for-the-rio-2016-olympic-and-paralympic-games/media-guide-rio-2016-olympic-and-paralympic-games-english.

  • Rio 2016. (2009a). Candidature file for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Vol. 1). Rio de Janeiro: Rio 2016 Candidate City.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rio 2016. (2009b). Candidature file for Rio de Janeiro to Host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Vol. 3). Rio de Janeiro: Rio 2016 Candidate City.

    Google Scholar 

  • RioZones. (2016). #RioZones blog. Retrieved from https://riozones.wordpress.com/.

  • Robertson, M., Yeoman, I., Smith, K. A., & McMahon-Beattie, U. (2015). Technology, society, and visioning the future of music festivals. Event Management, 19(4), 567–587.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, R. (2006). Nowhere, in particular: Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled and Central Europe. Critical Quarterly, 48(4), 107–130.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A. (1942). Capitalism, socialism, and democracy. London: Harper & Brothers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, R. (1990). The ‘system of pleasure’: Liminality and the carnivalesque at Brighton. Theory, Culture and Society, 7(1), 39–72.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Thomassen, B. (2009). The uses and meaning of liminality. International Political Anthropology, 2(1), 5–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomassen, B. (2014). Liminality and the modern: Living through the in-between. Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, V. W. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. New York: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, V. W. (1979). Liminal to liminoid, in play, flow, and ritual: An essay in comparative symbology. Rice University Studies, 60(3), 53–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, V. W. (1984). Liminality and the performative genres. In J. J. MacAloon (Ed.), Rite, drama, festival, spectacle: Rehearsals toward a theory of cultural performance (pp. 19–41). Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, V. W. (1992). Blazing the trail: Way marks in the exploration of symbols. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, V. W., Harris, J. C., & Park, R. J. (1983). Liminal to liminoid, in play, flow, and ritual: An essay in comparative symbology. In J. C. Harris & R. J. Park (Eds.), Play, games and sports in cultural contexts (pp. 123–164). Champaign: Human Kinetics Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uchoa, R., & Barros, G. B. (2017). Cisco social, urban and technological legacy for Rio 2016. In L. J. Mataruna-Dos-Santos & B. G. Pena (Eds.), Mega events footprints: Past, present and future (pp. 1141–1155). Rio de Janeiro: Engenho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urry, J. (2002). The tourist gaze (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vlachos, P. (2016). The London 2012 Olympics and small local business: A 5-year longitudinal study of south-east London. In G. Poynter, V. Viehoff, & Y. Li (Eds.), The London Olympics and urban development (pp. 176–193). Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voase, R. (2018). Holidays under the hegemony of hyper-connectivity: Getting away, but unable to escape? Leisure Studies, 37(4), 384–395.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Yarnal, C. M., & Kerstetter, D. (2005). Casting off: An exploration of cruise ship space, group tour behavior, and social interaction. Journal of Travel Research, 43(4), 368–379.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Ziakas, V. (2016). Fostering the social utility of events: An integrative framework for the strategic use of events in community development. Current Issues in Tourism, 19(11), 1136–1157.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Ziakas, V., & Boukas, N. (2013). Extracting meanings of event tourist experiences: A phenomenological exploration of Limassol carnival. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 2(2), 94–107.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Zimbalist, A. (2015). Circus maximus: The economic gamble behind hosting the Olympics and the World Cup. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimbalist, A. (2017). Rio 2016: Olympic myths, hard realities. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zizek, S. (2008). Violence: Six sideways reflections. London: Profile Books.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions [Research and Innovation grant agreement no. 823815].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Seth I. Kirby

  2. Coventry University, Coventry, UK

    Michael B. Duignan

Authors
  1. Seth I. Kirby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael B. Duignan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seth I. Kirby .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Dr. Ian R. Lamond

  2. School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Dr. Jonathan Moss

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kirby, S.I., Duignan, M.B. (2020). Searching for Sites of Liminality in Giga-Events. In: Lamond, I., Moss, J. (eds) Liminality and Critical Event Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40256-3_6

Download citation